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Mar 18, 2011
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it comes obviously in the immediate context of the tragedy in japan. so it's just inevitable that we will be looking at the report based on what's happening there now, but it's a great piece of work. typical of the high standards that you reached throughout your career in public service and we welcome your testimony on the report now. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ranking member collins. it's a pleasure to be here again this afternoon. i don't really feel like i've retired yet and i've been spending a considerable amount of time actually preparing for this hearing, but it is a pleasure and honor to be here. i can't agree with you more. the tragic events that are unfolding today in japan is a stark reminder of hour important catastrophic preparedness is. can and will happen here. it's just a matter of when. if you asked me if we as a nation are better prepared than we 20 years ago, 10 years ago, even 5 years ago, the answer to that is, yes, of course we are. we've made tremendous strides, particularly over, like you pointed out, over the last four years s
it comes obviously in the immediate context of the tragedy in japan. so it's just inevitable that we will be looking at the report based on what's happening there now, but it's a great piece of work. typical of the high standards that you reached throughout your career in public service and we welcome your testimony on the report now. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ranking member collins. it's a pleasure to be here again this afternoon. i don't really feel like i've retired yet and i've been...
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Mar 11, 2011
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you just came back from japan? >> guest: i just came back from japan. they have been an active ally, and regional talks which is essential. this is devastating. when you read the reports after you just met so many members of the diet and their leadership and you've been in their homes and had such in depth discussions for three or four days. to see it happening, is devastating. japan is probably one the most organized places i have ever visited. the streets are clean, the people are polite, there is a plan for everything that has to happen. and i know that they have been preparing for a possible earthquake or tsunami for a long time, but preparing for it, and then responding when the tall buildings are shaking and people are losing their lives, hopefully the lives lost will be kept to a minimum because of the preparation. >> yeah, this is also a domestic story. we've told you earlier that the waves are beginning to reach the coastline in hawaii. and it is scheduled to do so right now as we are speaking. viewer just tweeted to us that oregon's north coas
you just came back from japan? >> guest: i just came back from japan. they have been an active ally, and regional talks which is essential. this is devastating. when you read the reports after you just met so many members of the diet and their leadership and you've been in their homes and had such in depth discussions for three or four days. to see it happening, is devastating. japan is probably one the most organized places i have ever visited. the streets are clean, the people are...
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Mar 21, 2011
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now we're, much more fortunate here because when you look at japan there are very few places in japan that aren't prone to a local tsunami. the entire east coast of japan is, is prone to this kind of disaster whereas we only have a limited part of the u.s. that will have a local tsunami hazard. the part of the alaska and the pacific part of off oregon and washington. but that's the only part that will have a local tsunami so we're much more fortunate than japan. >> let me ask one other question. the fy-12 budget proposes to cut mineral resources program by 9.6 million or 18% with corresponding reduction of 52 ftes. give me an overview of the program and why it is important to america's economic and national security interest. >> this is a unique program in the federal government. there is no duplication here, no other program like it. the usgs provides a service to the nation by taking input from all of the mineral industries around the country, stripping off any industry pro pre proprietary information and and as semiwling -- assembling that information and rolling up into statistics
now we're, much more fortunate here because when you look at japan there are very few places in japan that aren't prone to a local tsunami. the entire east coast of japan is, is prone to this kind of disaster whereas we only have a limited part of the u.s. that will have a local tsunami hazard. the part of the alaska and the pacific part of off oregon and washington. but that's the only part that will have a local tsunami so we're much more fortunate than japan. >> let me ask one other...
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Mar 31, 2011
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we spend more money for health care than japan by far. we spend more money on health care than any other nation on earth by far. in japan they spend half as much than we do for health care, they get better results. everything from a higher life expectancy to lower infant mortality. they cover everybody. they spend half as much, get better results, cover everybody. how they can they be that smart and we be that dumb? one way to spend less money on health care is to have cleaner air. we can not only save billions of dollars, we've made great progress, we can save 10 maybe hundreds of billions of dollars to make air to make it cleaner. i'm happy to conclude it's a joy to see you presiding here and be here with you in this chamber with all of these young people and recount one of my favorite stories about barack obama and the six points i came to him 2, 2 1/2 years ago to refuse the deficit. we're starting -- reduce the deficit. and we're starting to do those things. with that, mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. thank you. the pre
we spend more money for health care than japan by far. we spend more money on health care than any other nation on earth by far. in japan they spend half as much than we do for health care, they get better results. everything from a higher life expectancy to lower infant mortality. they cover everybody. they spend half as much, get better results, cover everybody. how they can they be that smart and we be that dumb? one way to spend less money on health care is to have cleaner air. we can not...
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Mar 17, 2011
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japan has a higher debt than we, i think the highest in the world. they've had an interesting way that they've been able to finance it. but they've had no growth for quite a long time. it is consistent with the rogoff reinhardt study. does that apply to us? we will, we are about 95% now. our debt is surging. by the end of this fiscal year september 30, the numbers are that our debt will be 100% of g.d.p. we wilwell above the figure. what does 1% growth mean? if you're looking for growth of 1% or 2%, it is half your growth maybe. what does it mean in other terms? experts have said that a 1% reduction in your growth amounts to a million jobs lost -- a million jobs lost. so i believe we're beginning to feel a negative pull on our bounce back from this recession as a result of growing debt right now, not years down the road as some people have been saying and predicting we're going to have a debt crisis down the road. i hate to say it. all i can tell you is what i've been told at our committee. erskine bowles -- he was president clinton's chief of staff,
japan has a higher debt than we, i think the highest in the world. they've had an interesting way that they've been able to finance it. but they've had no growth for quite a long time. it is consistent with the rogoff reinhardt study. does that apply to us? we will, we are about 95% now. our debt is surging. by the end of this fiscal year september 30, the numbers are that our debt will be 100% of g.d.p. we wilwell above the figure. what does 1% growth mean? if you're looking for growth of 1%...
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Mar 15, 2011
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[laughter] when we looked upon what happened, the devastation that has hit japan and its impact, in be hawaii we have already felt it. our projections on our revenues have gone down for the first time as result of it, and we know what that's attributed to. we do know when we were voted in, david and i the new ones, people wanted us to address the economy and, specifically, jobs. because jobs is what makes each and every one of us feel good. jobs is what makes us have public confidence. jocks is what tells us we're on the right track, and we haven't seen one. eleven weeks have gone by, we haven't seen a jobs bill yet. but what's worse than that is we have seen cuts. and i'm hoping that the people do not accept just the mantra that if you cut, somehow that equates saving the economy -- equates to saving the economy. it's not the same. hook at what we've experienced -- look at what we've experienced in hawaii. the tsunami warning center has been cut. what does that mean? look at all of you who are watching the news reports and how many of you relied on those reports. it's a cut. those are
[laughter] when we looked upon what happened, the devastation that has hit japan and its impact, in be hawaii we have already felt it. our projections on our revenues have gone down for the first time as result of it, and we know what that's attributed to. we do know when we were voted in, david and i the new ones, people wanted us to address the economy and, specifically, jobs. because jobs is what makes each and every one of us feel good. jobs is what makes us have public confidence. jocks is...
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Mar 25, 2011
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that was with china, japan, korea, etc. i come from a family that has always had a part in military service and politics. and was very disappointed by the bush administration's unspeakable war in iraq. i am registered independent. in my opinion, it was a war of a corporate state against the country that had already been defeated in the gulf war. anybody knew it would only be a matter of time before saddam and his apparatus would be dismissed and a big change would come in iraq. instead, we lost 5000 of our precious young people. everyone of them was a volunteer. remiss handled -- we mishandled the entire iraqi situation. this was indescribable. we're now involved in a war and afghanistan. i see the casualty list every day on the news when i watched national public television. i am deeply disturbed by the way the president who live voted for -- the way he and his a ministration have handled our foreign affairs in the middle east. host: let's get a comment from congressman larson. guest: thank you for your service to the coun
that was with china, japan, korea, etc. i come from a family that has always had a part in military service and politics. and was very disappointed by the bush administration's unspeakable war in iraq. i am registered independent. in my opinion, it was a war of a corporate state against the country that had already been defeated in the gulf war. anybody knew it would only be a matter of time before saddam and his apparatus would be dismissed and a big change would come in iraq. instead, we lost...
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Mar 15, 2011
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what's going on in japan right now, i -- i shy away from the idea of saying, oh, well then we've got to stop ever building any nuclear power plant forever. i'm not a big fan of nuclear power but i don't think you make decisions like that, you don't maybe them out of emotion, you don't make them because there's a catastrophe in another country -- maybe there is, maybe there isn't, i haven't checked the news in four or five hours -- but that's 20% of all of our power in this country. so before we make that decision, let's be thoughtful about it. i think we ought to be thoughtful about this amendment, saying -- the mcconnell amendment saying forever and forever that the e.p.a. will be completely stripped away in terms of any power for -- for -- for carbon monoxide, climate problems. and to boot -- plus anything else that creates carbon. it could be factories, any -- all kinds of things. they will be completely free of any kind of regulation. and i think that's wrong. i think the regulation has to be put in place which is reasonab reasonable, which would be the purpose of my amendment fo
what's going on in japan right now, i -- i shy away from the idea of saying, oh, well then we've got to stop ever building any nuclear power plant forever. i'm not a big fan of nuclear power but i don't think you make decisions like that, you don't maybe them out of emotion, you don't make them because there's a catastrophe in another country -- maybe there is, maybe there isn't, i haven't checked the news in four or five hours -- but that's 20% of all of our power in this country. so before we...
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Mar 23, 2011
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one thinks of japan where there was no return of growth until this decade. how can you possibly attribute to this government a situation who regards growth as you do. >> i'm very grateful to the honorable gentleman's point and we have argued consistently and so has the international community that we had a financial crisis from 2008 and 2009. and out of that financial crisis, without making references to tsunamis, earthquakes, there are many after-shocks and it takes much time to actually get over that. so i certainly agree with that point. but it was not us who said that we were going to raise growth in last year. it was the conservative government and the honorable member made an excellent point when he pointed out quite rightly that under a labour government, we had 40% growth of debt in relation to gross domestic products. my recollection it was 37-something percent. it was the financial crisis that pushed it up to where it was. >> i'm very grateful to my honorable friend for giving way. would he also say after all the measures we've heard from the chanc
one thinks of japan where there was no return of growth until this decade. how can you possibly attribute to this government a situation who regards growth as you do. >> i'm very grateful to the honorable gentleman's point and we have argued consistently and so has the international community that we had a financial crisis from 2008 and 2009. and out of that financial crisis, without making references to tsunamis, earthquakes, there are many after-shocks and it takes much time to actually...
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Mar 10, 2011
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so often we hear on this floor discussion about china eating our lunch and clean energy, about japan and germany outpacing us in -- in wind and solar technology, but does anybody think that if those countries had a gulf of mexico or an anwar that they would not be drilling in those areas as we speak? does anyone think that those nations demagogue nuclear power or refuse to permit coal plants? their -- their energy policies are on better track than ours. they -- they're not just looking at what is happening today, they're looking -- they're looking tomorrow, they're looking today. they've got an energy policy that carries them out. there is an article in "the wall street journal" yesterday by nancen salari. he concludes this article with the statement that the u.s. does not have an energy problem, it has an energy strategy problem. think about that. it's not lacking the resources. it's the strategy for how we develop our energy resources. during his campaign, president obama liked to quote dr. martin luther king, and he talked about the fierce urgency of now. and there are few issues
so often we hear on this floor discussion about china eating our lunch and clean energy, about japan and germany outpacing us in -- in wind and solar technology, but does anybody think that if those countries had a gulf of mexico or an anwar that they would not be drilling in those areas as we speak? does anyone think that those nations demagogue nuclear power or refuse to permit coal plants? their -- their energy policies are on better track than ours. they -- they're not just looking at what...
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Mar 16, 2011
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now, just for a minute i'm going to deviate over there to what's happened in -- over in japan. we just came from a hearing and i'm very proud that not just our administration, the president, and the secretary of energy, but also the nuclear regulatory commission has said that that should not affect what we're doing right now. we currently have 12 applications pending. two of them are pending for almost immediate consideration for nuclear reactors so that we will get into nuclear. right now we only develop about 20% of our energy from nuclear. france, for example, does 80%. and so that's something that's out there. and i would say that in my opinion, as one member of the united states senate, in order to stop, not reduce, but stop our dependence upon the middle east all together, all we have to do is keep working on all the above. i want wind, i want solar, all of that. i also want those things that are developed and available today, coal, gas, and oil. now, you may wonder what i'm getting around to with these charts is the fact that we have a -- everyone admits that the -- that
now, just for a minute i'm going to deviate over there to what's happened in -- over in japan. we just came from a hearing and i'm very proud that not just our administration, the president, and the secretary of energy, but also the nuclear regulatory commission has said that that should not affect what we're doing right now. we currently have 12 applications pending. two of them are pending for almost immediate consideration for nuclear reactors so that we will get into nuclear. right now we...
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Mar 14, 2011
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today, praying for the survivors in japan after that terrible earthquake, remember those who died in katrina, and the rebuild is not going on in new orleans and even those who have lost their lives in 9/11. we know several things. we know infrastructure matters and we know transportation matters. we've know people who take the people on the systems matter greatly. and i think that's something we should bear in mind. i think today is the time for courage and confidence in how we move forward on our transportation system and our new legislation. i don't think it's a time for how much less we should spend on transit and highways suspect this is a time how much one wishes been and how wisely we should spend it. in the last months, in the recent two-year period, apta has said it. every state, 75% of those states, communities that have taken on the funding issues about transit, the ballot initiatives and other local referendums have seen the members in this committee, republicans and democrats alike, support those measures. and i think that is a sign of confidence that we should take as we
today, praying for the survivors in japan after that terrible earthquake, remember those who died in katrina, and the rebuild is not going on in new orleans and even those who have lost their lives in 9/11. we know several things. we know infrastructure matters and we know transportation matters. we've know people who take the people on the systems matter greatly. and i think that's something we should bear in mind. i think today is the time for courage and confidence in how we move forward on...